The Nova Scotia Teachers Union is sounding the alarm on the employment conditions of incoming school psychologists and speech pathologists.
The hires are a part of government’s ongoing reforms to the education system.
NSTU president Paul Wozney, says the province has banned the new hires from joining a union.
Current school psychologists are in the NSTU and Wozney believes that’s going to cause issues.
“There’s going to come to be long-standing resentment between two groups of people whose purpose within the system is to do the same thing.”
Wozney is worried about where the specialists will turn if they have an issue with their contract or their work environment if they are not allowed to join the union.
He also says many of the new positions are terms and not permanent which means less benefits.
“Now those positions are outside the union, you actually don’t get the same benefits as a union member for doing the same work, you don’t get the same pension access for doing the same work, you don’t get the same pay.”
Wozney says that also means a lack of maternity leave which, makes this an issue of women’s rights as well.
He says the discrepancy will lead to less retention of hires.
Read NSTU’s full statement here.
Meanwhile, the Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia (APNS) is also voicing their concerns for their members who work in school systems.
The group sent an open letter to Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Zach Churchill August 20.
They say they were not consulted during the Glaze Report or informed of changes to the school psychologists’ employment.
Susan Marsh, Executive Director of the association, is concerned the change from 10 to 12 month contracts means they would be expected to work in the summer.
“We feel that there may be some misunderstanding in the government, that they don’t understand that psychologists can’t and shouldn’t work without being embedded in the system.”
As outlined in their letter, Marsh believes they need to be a part of a collaborative work environment to be most effective.
Like NSTU, they too have concerns over the new contracts and Marsh says the implementation of these new positions seems ‘all over the place.’
“Some will have to apply or re-apply for their jobs depending on the type of contract they have and also there will be a change to their rate of pay.”
The association has not yet received a response to their letter.
To read the full letter from APNS, click here.
In a response to a request for comment from our newsroom, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, says the 12 month contracts were a recommendation from the Commission on Inclusive Education.
In an email, the department says they have seen interest in the 12 month school psychologist contracts due to the higher rate of pay – 15 per cent more – and have filled four out of six of those positions.
We requested comment from the minister on the concerns surrounding union membership and did not receive a response by publication.
Story by Brittany Wentzell
Twitter: @BrittWentzell
